"You crazy bastard!!!"

A booming voice echoed. I casually picked my nose as the white space gradually started to clear.

"Pardon? What's wrong?"

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?!"

"Uh, uh... Sister Ra..."

"Shut up, you stupid girl!"

"Oh..."

I was confident.

"You told me to take everything I could, didn't you?"

"There are limits! Do you not have any boundaries?! You're supposed to be a priest serving me and yet you're accepting traces from another god?!"

"I-I can explain..."

"I said shut up!"

"Ah..."

I embraced Naga, who was on the verge of tears.

"Why are you being like this to our Lord Naga?"

"Our... Lord Naga? Ah… Ah... my blood pressure... my blood pressure…”

"Jahad..."

She squirmed and clung to me. Yes. That's right.

You're mine now, so you can cling even more.

"Lord Ra. Please, let's go somewhere else and have this conversation."

“This is your own mental world! There is nowhere else to go!”

"Come on. You can do anything if you set your mind to it. Lord Naga, wait here for a moment. I'll be back after I calm Lord Ra."

"Be... be careful..."

I distanced myself from her. The moment I took a step, Naga's form disappeared completely.

However, Ra's scolding continued without pause.

"You crazy fool!"

"I'm hearing you! Could you lower the decibels a bit?"

"You think you can make a mockery of me! Let's put that aside for now. You have no idea what your actions entail!"

"What does it mean?"

Sparks burst in front as a large blackboard appeared with a thud. Before it, a flaming piece of chalk moved on its own.

Using pictures to explain things, how kind.

"Your body was crafted by me, entirely with the power of the Sun God!"

"It does seem to perform quite well."

"That's not all! Do you have any idea how many Stigmata are contained within the body I created?"

"There was just one on the back of my hand."

"What you see isn't all there is! Your entire body might as well be covered with my Stigmata! For your sake, I've created what you call the System... fitting it into the world... do you know how much trouble that caused?"

The chalk trembled violently.

"This is akin to cheating on me as well!"

"A capable man can't be tied down by anyone."

"You bastard! Just die here! How dare you humiliate me! What?! An Apostle of one god serving two gods?! If this gets out among other gods, the word will spread that I’m a disgrace!"

"You told me to get everything I could."

"I never told you to go after the Serpent God!!!!!!"

The huffing chalk slumped down.

"Why... why did it have to be someone like you..."

"There, there. Calm down."

"You bastard... bad bastard... Do you know what kind of bad effects that has on your body? That action literally defies causality. There's a reason unprecedented events happen. Whether it brings about massive side effects... or leads to unimaginable results... it always ends in nothing but ruin."

A piece of chalk flew by swiftly.

"Are there any abnormalities with your body?"

"There was a strange description in the system."

"... What did it say?"

"Can't Lord Ra see it?"

"If I also intervened, the world would become distorted, so I was content with showing you the quantified world. If I tampered with the system, everything would be ruined."

"Oh, I see. It's nothing much, just expressions like my race turning into ??? or some part of my body becoming twisted..."

.......

Flames flared up. I hurriedly felt around my body.

"It's a bomb about to explode."

"My body?"

"Yes, your body! You damn fool! Other divine powers naturally resist! Didn't that Naga witch tell you?!"

"She didn't mention it."

"That stupid woman! I should have realized when I saw her getting infatuated with her followers that she wasn't thinking straight!"

Ra paused for a moment.

"...There's no other way now. You're going to die."

"What?"

"Since both have mixed, we can't predict what will happen. It could explode tomorrow, or the day after. Your human shell could completely shatter, and you might become the world's worst monster with divine powers."

"Oh, surely it won't go that far."

"Did you really think you could contain the conflicting divine powers in a mere human vessel? I expected a relic of the Serpent God, but... You had to come here carrying the title of Apostle..."

"Well, if that's the case, that's a bit troubling."

I thought fast. Divine powers on the verge of explosion.

Is it like the two different divine powers inside me are constantly clashing and about to explode?

But there was a phrase that made me hesitate to think in that direction: if the system, which quantifies all the information, didn't lie.

"Is it like a nuclear bomb going off inside me every day?"

"Yeah! Radiation exposure, you fool! War contaminates the land too! The ground that has experienced war is usually damaged beyond repair!"

"But it said they were mixed together."

"That's where... wait a moment. What? Mixed together?"

Fire touched my body once more.

"...Hold on. What is this?"

"What's going on?""

"The distortion of holy power... a cluster of holy power I've never seen before... This is... It may be small, but it could perhaps become a vessel for a demigod... Come to think of it... this body was never human, but rather the Stigmata itself that I crafted..."

The flames turned a vivid blue.

"You... what's happening with you?"

"I don't know either."

"Tch, just bury it for now! I think I need to think a little more about this! Fortunately, it doesn't seem like it's going to explode soon! This will require further study..."

The flames grabbed my arm. A blood collection device appeared out of nowhere and started drawing my blood.

"Ouch."

"I'll probably be busy for a while, so I don't think I'll be able to contact you. If you need help, ask the Naga. She's relatively less occupied."

"I’m going to feel a bit lonely."

"It's your fault!"

The flames slowly began to dissipate. I casually grabbed the end of the fire.

"Excuse me, Lord Ra."

"What is it this time?"

"You know you're my favorite, right?"

“...”

"This body was created by you, and we share secrets only the two of us know. You've been with me from the beginning to the end here."

I gently stroked the flames.

"To me, you are the most precious god, Lord Ra."

"...You brat."

The flames blazed up brightly.

"Darn it, now I'm even angrier. You flirt! You should get what you deserve!"

"Ouch! Ouch!"

"Why did I end up with someone like that..."

The flames disappeared. I shouted into the space around me.

"Lord Ra! You know I care about you a lot!"

"Shut up! You annoying brat!"

"Jahad?"

Someone was shaking my shoulder. I snapped my eyes open and immediately sat up.

The surroundings were filled with ice. Was I back to reality? My body felt sluggish. There was a strange sense of unfamiliarity.

My body was… Still the same.

But something had changed. I looked at the back of my hand. The Stigmata of the Sun God was still there, but somehow it seemed like it could show something different.

"Are you okay?"

"Noona, would you like to see this?"

"Hmm?"

I casually extended my hand. The Stigmata on the back swirled, and soon the shape began to change.

The symbol that resembled the sun shifted to one indicating a snake.

"...What?"

At Isabella's bewildered voice, I gently stirred my divine energy. It wasn’t the energy of the sun, but a cold aura resembling a black shadow that began to swirl around my toes.

"It actually works."

"This, what is this?"

"I just met Lord Naga, and he seemed to like me more than I expected."

I smiled warmly at Isabella, who was staring at me blankly.

"She said he would appoint me as an Apostle. Of course, I still serve the Sun God. But keep it a secret, Noona."

Isabella fainted on the spot.

"I've never seen anything like this before."

Isabella, the only one I shared the secret with, spoke gloomily.

"Lord Naga personally chose an Apostle... and it turned out to be a priest of the Sun God. What does the Sun God say about this?"

"She seemed pleased with how capable I am."

Of course, she was practically foaming at the mouth.

"The gods stand far above us. But in the end, humans are just replicas made in their likeness. No matter how capable, we can never truly catch up to them. Yet, you've been recognized for your competence by such beings..."

She crossed herself.

"This too must be part of Lord Naga's teachings. Jahad, I will teach you. It's your choice, but now that the Stigmata has appeared on you, you have the right to listen to the teachings of the Snake Cult."

"I'm all for it."

There's a saying that goes, ‘A setback can be a blessing in disguise.’

In the empty cavern where I could be swallowed at any moment, I had the opportunity to train with Isabella. Just the two of us, hidden away in an underground tunnel where no one could see us.

Of course, we drew some suspicion from the Inquisitors and Radatok.

"Recently, you've been spending a lot of time with the Snake Cult."

"Brother, is it possible you're harboring evil thoughts..."

"You can become corrupted just by speaking with them, Brother."

The voices that sprung up were quickly silenced with a single crab shell.

"Surely, Brother has some thoughts of his own."

"Being able to create such a devout dish proves that Brother is a born follower of the Sun God Religion."

"I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Could I have just one more bowl, Brother?"

Unlike the times when I spent my days tediously alone, having something to learn made the time fly by much faster.

Isabella was a strict teacher. However, whenever I got injured during training, she would immediately rush over and shower me with healing spells.

"Are you okay, Jahad? Maybe we should slow down a bit..."

Her once rigid demeanor had softened somewhat. Now, she was almost like a real older sister to me.

Still, I demanded even more rigorous training. Although it deviated significantly from the expected timeline, it was a chance to learn about venom and dark spells.

"I want to push myself a little more, Noona."

Even when I collapsed, I got right back up.

"Thinking of it as Lord Naga's teachings, it's not hard at all."

"...You really are something."

[Jahad... cute…]

Ra's voice was barely audible. Yet now, Naga's voice filled that space.

Even without facing her, it seemed as though her personality had slightly changed. It's difficult to describe exactly how.

Like a hardcore otaku getting all excited over their genre.

[Cute... My disciple is so cute... Those sweat drops... I want to lick his shoulder…]

Why is the god, who acted all shy when we actually met, behaving like this?

Twenty days passed like that, then thirty. The languid movements of the Demon of the Snow, which had been slow and deliberate, suddenly halted.

The Snake Cultists and Inquisitors, who were sitting naturally and playing cards mixed among the packages, flinched.

"What is it?"

"Finally, something..."

The ground began to crumble. A terrible stench rose up through the cracks.

Stage 3 was beginning.

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